210 



ON VINEYARDS* 



" From the history of the ancient and modern 

 wines, we may be capable of forming a more 

 true judgment of the various nature and qualities 

 of wines, which, in the general, are chiefly owing 

 to the climate and soil It is very remarkable that 

 the grapes of all Vines, planted within the fifty - 

 first degree of the northern latitude, acquire such a 

 degree of strength, as renders them fit for pro- 

 ducing good wine, in which the terrene and saline 

 principles prevail, though they are more refined 

 and corrected as they advance to maturity ; but 

 as the climate advances more to the south, they 

 acquire more strength, and the oleaginous and 

 spirituous principles prevail, and in any consider- 

 able quantity cannot be salutary without being 

 diluted with water ; on which account the wines 

 produced in temperately warm climates, where the 

 principles are more equally blended and united, are 

 more light, and though generous, more salutary, and 

 agreeably adapted to promote social happiness, than 

 those produced in either extreme : such are par- 

 ticularly the French? Hungarian, Italian, and some 

 of the Spanish and German wines. 



" It is a just observation, that one half of Ger- 

 many, which is to the north of the vinous latitude, 

 is entirely destitute of any good wine, while the 

 other half abounds with fertile Vineyards, and a 

 variety of good wines ; and likewise shows, that 

 a very moderate addition to the warmth of the 

 climate is sufficient to produce excellent wines ; 

 in which the soil principally, with other circum- 



